Against Time
by GregsMadHatter
Summary: While visiting a patient, a raging mad man with a gun enters the hospital and everyone evacuates, but one doctor doesn’t get the news fast enough. UPDATE! COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Against Time**

**Summary: While visiting a patient, a raging mad man with a gun enters the hospital and everyone evacuates, but one doctor doesn't get the news fast enough.**

**Disclaimer: Me no own House!**

**A/N: This takes place during season 2.**

**Chapter 1**

In Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, the doctors see the worst case scenarios come in. Abused children and young adults suffering leukemia are just a few groups that get admitted to this hospital. Sometimes these cases get difficult to handle, even if the patient is a spawn from Satan. But the worst cases, the ones that are difficult to solve, land in the hands of a diagnostic team who see the worst. Led by Dr. Gregory House, this team sees the worst. But today…today was one of those slow days. They had just finished up on a case and were now just waiting to go home. House sat in his office, throwing his ball up in the air and catching it with his cane. As he threw it up once more, the door opened to reveal Dr. James Wilson, an oncologist and the only person who was able to stand House and his logic. "I see you're hard at work."

House caught the ball and turned to look at his friend. "I take it you're here about Tumor girl."

"If by Tumor girl, you mean 8 year old Emily, then yes."

"The surgeons completely removed the tumor from her brain. She's in post-op now and my magic work is now finished."

"I can see that. I can also see that you are making Cameron and Foreman do your paperwork," stated Wilson, referring to the African-American man and brown-haired woman in the other room.

"Wow, you're good! The little Aussie is in the pediatric ICU checking on Tumor girl."

"And since you have everything covered, you're in here amusing yourself."

"Yeah. It's good to be the king. I solve the cases and my ducklings do all the work."

House took out his prescription bottle of Vicodin and popped a couple pills into his mouth as Wilson said, "You do know it was Chase that found the tumor."

"Yeah, but I told him to do the MRI."

"Whatever you say, House."

Wilson began to walk out, leaving House to continue juggling his ball. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the hospital, the blonde hair Dr. Robert Chase tucked the blanket around the young girl in the bed. "There you go. Feeling better?" he asked in his Australian accent.

The girl smiled and nodded, allowing Chase to smile back. "That's good to hear. You want to know a secret?"

Again, she nodded. Chased looked around and whispered, "You were much braver than some of the boys I've treated."

"Really?"

"You bet. You're one brave little girl, Emily."

The girl named Emily smiled at the blonde doctor. As Chase looked at her, he felt a kind of warmth inside him. It always made him happy when they were able to save small children such as her. "Hey, you want something? I'm sure you want something to eat."

"My daddy already went to get some ice cream."

"Oh lucky girl. You know what, I'm just going to check something very quick and I'll…" but he was cut off by his beeper. Taking the beeper from his belt, he saw one message that no one ever wants to read: CODE SILVER. "What is it?" asked Emily.

Chase had to get Emily out, but he knew moving someone who just had surgery was delicate. He thought up a quick excuse and replied, "It's just a little drill."

"Like a fire drill!?"

"Exactly," replied Chase as he put the IV bag on the bed post and undid the breaks. "You ready?'

Emily nodded and Chase began to wheel Emily out of the room. He had to be careful. One slip and if Emily had any sudden jerks with her head, they were looking at brain damage. The elevator was nearing when two nurses ran at him. "Is this the last?"

"I'm not sure. Be careful, she just had brain surgery."

Once they reached the elevator, Chase took Emily's hand and said, "These nice ladies are going to take care of you. I promise I'll be right back. I'm going to make sure everyone else is out."

The last part was directed to the nurses as he ran back through the hall. He just rounded another corner when he saw what set off the Code Silver. There was a dirty many stumbling through the halls with a gun. Chase hid behind the wall and peered around a corner to keep an eye on the man. The man continued to stumble down the hall towards Chase. Chase looked around and saw a small boy fast asleep. There was no way Chase could leave the boy behind. Quietly, he ran across the hall and slipped into the room unnoticed. The boy remained asleep as Chase readied him for transport and was just about to wheel him out when the man came into view in front of the door. The man spotted Chase and brought his gun up. "Don't move or I'll shoot!"

Chase froze as the man walked into the room. "Are you a doctor?"

"I'm an intensivist…"

"I don't know what that is! Are you a doctor?!"

Clearly this guy wasn't the brightest man, but Chase didn't want to anger him, so he replied, "Yes, I am a doctor."

"You're coming with me. No yelling for help, no running. You're coming peacefully."

This guy was high on something. "Look, let's work something out…"

The man pointed the gun at the wall behind Chase and fired. The bullet nearly missed him as he ducked to one side. "Hey! Take it easy!"

"YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!"

The boy began to wake up, which worried Chase. He had to think of something, fast. "Look, there is no way you can just walk out of here. Everyone is outside and they will all recognize…"

But before Chase could finish, the man stuck Chase in the neck with a syringe and injected a clear serum into his blood stream. Chase's eyelids grew heavy and he soon went out cold. The man removed Chase's white coat, put it on and carried Chase's unconscious body out of the room just as the boy began to open his eyes. After finding an empty gurney, he laid Chase out on it, covered him in a white sheet and headed out. To everyone else, he looked like a normal doctor evacuating a patient. But he left behind a loose end. The kid had heard everything and saw the man leave.

TBC…

**Please R&R! A/N: I have no clue what a code red in a hospital really means, so don't sue me! A/N: I found the right code and changed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! Thanks guys! This is my first House fic, so I'm glad you guys are liking it! Anyway, I had written this chapter up right after the first one just in case you guys liked it, so therefore…I post it now!**

**Chapter 2**

When Chase woke up, he was in what seemed to be a storage garage, but instead of seeing boxes filled with random objects, he saw medical equipment. If he didn't know any better, eh would have thought he was in a hospital lab. As he sat up, he found himself on a gurney next to an occupied bed. Chase jumped back in surprise, almost knocking over a few tools. After regaining himself, he walked over to see who was in the bed. It was a woman in her early twenties with brown hair and an oxygen mask pulled around her face. A heart and O2 monitor was connected to her. Chase reached out to wake the woman to find out where he was when he noticed a cotton ball on his arm where someone would normally draw blood from being held don by a band-aid. He wanted two answers; where was he and what was going on? Suddenly, a voice over the intercom shouted, _"Good evening, doctor. As you are fully aware, you are here with a woman who is slowly dying. I took a sample of her blood and found the disease. I was then able to isolate the disease from the blood and have injected it directly into your blood stream. As you can tell, you haven't developed the disease just yet, but you will. You're here to cure her. If you cure her, you cure yourself and you can walk out of here, but if you fail and she dies, then you will remain here and die a slow, painful death. The decision is up to you. You'd better hurry. The clock is ticking. I'll be watching you."_

The voice disappeared and Chase found himself standing in disbelief. He was here…to cure someone? Why didn't he just take her to the hospital? Chase ran his fingers through his blonde hair as he looked around. He could see the door, but could already imagine that it was locked from the outside. There was only one way out of here, and that was to cure this woman. First thing he needed was a list of symptoms. That way, he could think of all the possible diseases. Of course, if this case was neurological or allergenic, then he was screwed. Those were Foreman's and Cameron's area of expertise. However, he needed symptoms and the best way to find them out was one of three ways; either sit around and watch her, wait until he became symptomatic or wake her up now and ask. He chose the latter of the three. He was about to wake her when he felt a sudden coughing fit erupt. It was already starting to take effect. After successfully getting over the fit, he placed his hand on her forehead. She was hot. Coughing and fever were two symptoms so far. He moved his hand to her shoulder and shook her a bit. What was he suppose to say? "Uh…excuse me," he stated.

She finally opened her brown eyes and looked a little confused at him. "Hi, my name is Dr. Chase…"

"You're a doctor?"

"You can say that. Anyway, I need to ask you a few questions. Can you tell me what your symptoms were before you got the disease?"

She looked at him in confusion. "Let me rephrase that. Before you got sick, what was your body feeling or doing?"

"Why are you here?"

"I can honestly say that I don't really know, but what I can tell you is that whatever you have, I have and if I don't figure out what it is, we're both going to die here."

"Well, if you have it then you already know what the symptoms are."

"Look, no I don't I only just got it because I was injected with it within the last 3 hours. So are you going to tell me the symptoms?"

He needed to add irritability to the list too. He had never acted that way before except to House not that long ago. Finally, she took in a breath from the mask and replied, "Coughing, fever, I feel cold, headaches, nausea, my muscles hurt and I have a hard time breathing."

"Anything else?"

She shook her head. "Well, thank you. Hopefully we can make you all better."

Chase was about to walk away to find some paper when she said, "My name is Carrie."

Chase turned and replied, "I'll get you better, Carrie."

Slowly, Carrie's eyes shut and she went back to sleep. Chase was unable to locate any paper, but he managed to fin an Expo marker. After writing all the symptoms on the wall, he began coughing again. "I feel like shit," he muttered to himself as he looked over the symptoms.

As he looked over the list, he noticed that not one disease caused all these symptoms. "Think like House, think like House," he muttered.

He knew House would tell them to test for everything or get an MRI, but seeing as how there was no MRI machine, he was just about to have to test for everything. And since he was the only one there, these tests were going to take 3 times as long as it normally would. But he had to work fast because the more time he spent, the more developed the illness will become in him. He had to choose diseased to test for. But which ones? There had to be a least a thousand different causes of these symptoms. But he couldn't sit around and did nothing. He never thought he would want House to tell him what to do. Another problem he faced was the sterility of all the medical equipment in the room. If he used an unsterile needle on Carrie, she could get an infection and it could progress the illness even farther to the point where it could ultimately kill her. At the moment, what he wanted to do was to get her to a sterile environment and treat her there. But you can't always get what you want. This problem was not going to be fixed by sitting around. Maybe if he acted like he was treating her and they were both feeling better, he could get her to a hospital and treat her there. It was going to be tricky to hide their symptoms, but it was t best plan he got. He was about to grab a syringe from one of the tables when another coughing fit hit him and he fell into the table, knocking the syringes to the ground. Chase brought his arm up to his face and covered his mouth with his sleeve to keep the place from becoming less sterile then what it already was. Once the coughing had died away, he pulled his sleeve away and his eyes grew wide. There was blood…he was coughing blood. That just narrowed down the field of what diseases it could be, but all the ones that included coughing blood needed to be treated…quickly.

TBC…

**Please R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow guys, I can't believe how much you guys actually like this story! It's my first House fic and I didn't think it would be such a hit. You guys rock!**

**Chapter 3**

The entire hospital stood outside in groups waiting for the okay to go back to work. House stood with Cameron and Foreman as he saw two nurses wheel out Tumor girl. Wait a second; Chase was supposed to be with her. Then again, Chase should have been outside already. Where was h? House limped up to the nurses and asked, "Where is the doctor who was with her?"

"He's still inside making sure the rest of the children in the PICU are out."

The nurses wheeled Tumor girl past him and towards her father. House turned and began making his way to Cuddy who was busy talking with a few officers that were taking care of the scene. Once he reached her, he asked, "Have you seen Chase?"

"Isn't he with you?"

"Do you see him with me?"

"Well, how the hell should I know? I've been kind of busy here, if you haven't noticed we have a code silver going on and I need to make sure we handle this properly. And wince when have you cared about Chase?"

"He has great hair."

"Look, Chase is a smart doctor. He knows what to do in situations like these."

"Are we talking about the same guy? I mean, after all, those Brits are weird."

Cuddy rolled her eyes as a man and a woman approached them and asked, "Dr. Cuddy, our son is a patient here in the hospital and we can't find him anywhere."

"What floor was he on?" asked Cuddy.

"The fourth floor, room 428."

Cuddy and House looked at each other as she said, "That's in the PICU."

"That's where Chase was supposed to be."

Cuddy turned to the police and asked, "Can you go in and find Benjamin in room 428?"

"Yes ma'am," one replied as they ran in. As they disappeared, House muttered, "Chase had better be with that kid or he's fired."

Not long after that, the two officers wheeled Benjamin out. The parents ran to him smiling as Cuddy asked the police, "Was there a doctor with him?"

"No ma'am."

"That's it, he's fired," stated House.

"There was a doctor with me," piped up Benjamin.

All eyes turned to him as he said, "He was talking to someone and then there was this loud noise. I woke up and saw the doctor was asleep and the other guy was taking him home to bed."

"Are you sure?" asked Cuddy.

Benjamin smiled and nodded as Cuddy turned to House and said, "This isn't good."

"You're telling me. Where am I going to find another British guy with great hair and agrees with everything I say? We are very short-handed on those, you know."

"First off, Chase is Australian."

"Well duh! EVERYONE knows that!"

"SECOND," shouted Cuddy, interrupting House's sarcastic streak, "We have a doctor missing, and possibly hurt. The man was seen with a gun and Benjamin said he heard a loud noise. He could have been shot!"

"Doubt it. A guy who shot someone wouldn't carry them. Doesn't want to get blood on himself. Besides, the kid would have had blood on him."

"Since when did you become a detective?"

"My job is practically detective work. Just call me Sherlock Holmes."

"I don't care, Sherlock."

House began to walk away when Cuddy asked, "Where are you going?"

House ignored her and approached Cameron and Foreman. "Okay Watson and…Watson, we've got a case."

"We do?" asked Cameron.

"Yeah, we're hunting down Watson."

"No you're not," came Cuddy's voice from right behind him.

"Oh, you're taking away my fun."

"Let the police do their job and you can do yours. The police have Okayed the building. Go inside, finish…whatever it was you were doing before, go home and let the police deal with this."

Cuddy walked away as Foreman asked, "Let the police deal with what?"

"Chase is missing."

Before he could get asked another question, he followed the crowd in and went straight to his office. Once he sat at his desk on the fourth floor, he stayed there, deep in thought. Time flew; people seemed to be moving at a hundred miles per hour as House sat in his office, resting his chin on his cane. Soon, most of the doctors had gone home to go to sleep, but House remained at the hospital in his office, staring at the table and whiteboard in the room next to him. He remained there through the night and into the next morning, refusing to sleep. The sudden code silver and disappearance of Chase boggled his mind. As the sun rose into the sky, House left his desk and walked to the whiteboard, writing down words and phrases. Cameron and Foreman walked in looking confused. "House? Did you stay here all night?" asked Cameron.

"Maybe I did. Why? You're going to spank me, mommy?" he replied without taking his eyes of the board in front of him.

Foreman and Cameron stopped at stared at their boss. "What are you writing?" asked Foreman, trying to look around House's head.

"Symptoms."

"We have a case already?"

House stepped aside to reveal the board. "Man enters with gun, heads to fourth floor," read Foreman.

"These aren't symptoms," pointed out Cameron.

"No, it's a timeline. Based off this timeline, what can you pull from it?"

"You want us to diagnose what happened to Chase?" questioned Cameron.

"Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner! Now then…"

"You heard Cuddy, she said to leave this alone," stated Foreman.

"I know I heard her too, but do you really think Cuddy is going to stop me? I mean, when is the last time she told me not to do something and I did it anyway? Now, what can you get…?"

"Leave it alone, House, we can't…!" began Cameron.

"You know, Chase would have already named off a few ideas," interrupted House.

Foreman sighted and said, "Fourth floor is the ICU, so he was either looking for a patient or a doctor."

"And seeing how Chase is a doctor, let's go off of that. Why a doctor?"

"Who knows? Maybe he knew Chase for some reason," replied Foreman.

"It doesn't matter! What can we do? We're doctors!" stated Cameron in one breath.

The room remained silent as House took in what she said. "You just want a puzzle and this is the most intriguing puzzle you've ever seen. We diagnose sick patients, not solve crimes."

Taking in a breath, House asked, "What if this guy is mentally unstable and what he did is a symptom of a neurological problem?'

"House, give it a rest. There's nothing we can do about it. Now, if you'll excuse me, 'm going to go do what doctors do," replied Foreman as he walked away.

House turned and looked at Cameron, who said, "I'm sorry."

And with that, she left, leaving House alone.

* * *

That night, Chase did not sleep. His coughing became more frequent as time progressed and each fit brought up more blood. He had successfully moved his gurney to the opposite side of the room. If what they had was an airborne disease, then being close to each other for a long period of time could make the disease work faster. As he sat up, he began to feel light-headed and cold. These were signs of a fever. Chase grabbed a temperature reader and stuck it in his mouth, not caring if it was sterile or not. It read 101.2°. Chase cursed under his breath as he threw the reader onto his gurney. If his plan was to work, then he needed to execute it now. Without hesitating, Chase grabbed a syringe and headed to Carrie. Once he reached her, her eyes opened and she asked, "What are you doing?"

Chase ignored her and maneuvered the needle as if he was going to inject her, but missed her arm completely. "You missed."

"I meant to."

"What do you…?"

"I'm not treating you. Not here."

"But, we'll both die if you don't."

"We're dead either way. This is an unsterile environment. You catch one disease from an unsterile needle and we both die here. I'm going to need you to act like you're well in order for this to work."

"He won't fall for it."

"You never know. I've seen smart people fall for worse. I'm not going to risk my life here."

Chase threw the syringe aside as Carrie asked, "You're life or our lives?"

"My life is connected to your life; therefore my life is our lives."

There was a silence, then she asked, "You're one of those rich boys, aren't you? You know, the one who's father paid for your private schooling and medical school. All pretty rich boys act the same; always caring about number one. Themselves."

"Don't talk like you know me, because you don't. I'm not rich."

Carrie turned her eyes away as Chase stated, "Now then, I'm going to get his attention. Pretend like you're feeling better."

Carrie nodded as Chase walked over to the door and started banging on it. The noise he was making wasn't helping his head, but he had no other idea for it. Suddenly, a port in the door opened and chase saw the two eyes from the hospital staring in at him. "What is it?" the man asked coldly.

"She's all better, however…"

"Let me see."

Chase stood aside to let his eyes peer in the room. Quickly, he stepped back into view. "You see?"

"Go to the other side of the room, put your back against the wall and stay there."

As Chase began to walk, he felt a cough beginning to form in his throat. He couldn't cough now. He suppressed the cough and did as the man said. Once Chase turned around, he saw the door open and the man walk in. He looked just like he did before; dirty, mangy and even from the side of the room he was standing, Chase could smell the alcohol on his breath. The cough tickled at the back of his throat and Chase could feel some blood behind it, but he kept holding it as the man looked over Carrie. He had just placed a hand on Carrie's skin when he pulled back and glared at Chase. "She's still hot!"

"It'll take the antibiotics some time to relieve the fever."

"How long?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but in case the antibiotics don't work, I want to take her back to Princeton with me to keep an eye on her stats."

"No, she stays here."

Chase felt a sinking feeling as the man continued to oversee her. Chase thought it had worked until the man's eyes fell on something and his face turned to anger. His lips curled into a snarl as he turned his attention to the blonde doctor. "You lied to me."

"What? No I didn't."

"If you cured her, why does her heart monitor show a rapid heartbeat," he shouted, pointing to the heart monitor screen. Sure enough, her heart rate was faster than usual. This was a new. Her heart rate was fine a few minutes ago. Chase was about to leave his spot from the wall to investigate when the man shouted, "I said don't move!"

Chase froze as the man approached him. "You think you can trick me?"

A sudden blow to the stomach made Chase double over in pain. "DO YOU!"

Before Chase could answer, the man hit Chase on the back, causing his legs to give out from underneath him. Once Chase hit the floor, the man leant in and whispered, "You lie to me one more time and I won't waste one moment to kill you. Now then…"

The man stood up and looked down at the hurt doctor. "You'd best get to work. The clock is ticking."

With a skip in his step, the man left the room with Chase still on the floor in pain. Using the wall to support his weight, Chase stood up and breathed in. Finally, he let the cough take him and he spewed more blood. Now Chase had no choice. Sterile or unsterile, he had to fix this, even if it meant using himself as the guinea pig. After cleaning up the blood from his lungs, he laid out on his gurney and stayed there, staring at the ceiling. He was on his own.

TBC…

**Here you go, guys! An incredibly long chapter just for you! If you manage to guess what it is that Carrie and Chase have, I'll dedicate a chapter in your name! You don't have to be first to guess it right, just whenever you do, you get a chapter in your honor. A hint, the transfusion of her blood to Chase's…it was a painful one for both…and not from her arm. Happy guessing and happy reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Glad you like the story. So far, no one has guessed the diagnosis correctly. One of you was close, but remember on this show, things aren't always what they seem.**

**Chapter 4**

His stomach hurt, his back ached, his throat felt raw and to top it all off, he was spiking a fever. Chase was not having a good day, or few days. After the last encounter, Carrie's heartbeat had returned to it's normal pace and Chase had returned to his gurney and laid there, unwanting to move. He was in too much pain to have done anything, both physical and mental pain. Now, he had no choice. There was no way to get to a sterile environment, no chance of fooling this man. He was stuck in this rut. The only thing left to do was to what he was brought here to do. To be a doctor to this selfish person. How did he get himself into this mess? First things first, he had to run a few tests. The easiest was a blood test. He was going to check for blood transmitted diseases. The top of the list was AIDS, something he hoped it wasn't. The second test was Lupus, which he, again, hoped it wasn't either. Without wasting another second, he slowly got off his gurney, careful not to move too fast, and found the necessary equipment to draw blood. Once the equipment was in his hand, he found a box of latex gloves and placed a pair on. It was time to get to work. Quickly, he approached Carrie and placed the latex tube around her arm, cutting off circulation. She woke to the pain and asked, "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"So you decided to go along with his little game."

"Does it look like I have a choice?" asked Chase as he tapped her arm, looking for a vein. Once he found one, he placed the rubbing alcohol on her arm and attached the needle to the vial. "Told you he wouldn't fall for it," she muttered with a smile.

"Glad you could point that out."

Chase was just about to stick the needle into her arm when he noticed she wasn't watching. "You okay?"

"Yeah…I just hate needles."

"Who doesn't?"

"Doctors, I assume. I mean, you use them every day. Why wouldn't you hate them?"

"Just because we use them doesn't mean we enjoy them. I can't stand needles either."

"Yet you stick them into other people? Hypocrite."

Carrie was not making this any more enjoyable. Without his usual empathetic warning, he drove the needle through her skin and into her vein. He could see her wince in pain and couldn't help but smile on the inside. "Sorry, forgot to warn you about the slight pinch."

Chase watched as the vial filled with the red liquid running through her veins. Once the vial was filled, Chase removed the needle and vial and covered the area with a cotton ball and a band aid. "See, it wasn't all that bad," he interjected as he began placed a cover onto the vial.

"Easy for you to say. You weren't the one getting a needle stuck into you."

Now Chase was getting really tired of her little pity parties she was throwing for herself. After biting his lip, he said in a stern tone, "You know, I can tell that clearly you don't want to be here. Well, neither do I. In fact, this is the last place I want to be right now. I'd rather be doing clinic duty at my hospital, but I'm not because whoever this man is wants me to treat you, so therefore, I'm stuck here. So why don't you stop with you're 'my life sucks' act and I'll try to make this go by as quickly as possible."

Normally, Chase didn't lash out at people like this. Sure, there were those few rare moments, but never to someone just because they felt sorry for themselves. He was just frustrated. Who wouldn't be? He was stuck here and there was no way out. Here he was, in God knows what with God knows what disease that is slowly killing him and this woman thinks she's the only one with problems. As Chase thought over all of this, he couldn't help but think that this is why House hated people. Great, he was turning into a House protégé. If House was here, he'd be mocking him left and right. He took the vial of blood over and found a microscope with several different dies and other combining agents. On the table next to that was a computer analyzer. "Where did he get all of this?" he muttered to himself.

Suddenly, Carrie's voice came stating, "He used to be in the army."

Chase turned and saw that Carrie was actually sitting up staring at him. "He worked in the medical bases in Iraq for three years. He knew the ins and outs of medical work."

"How do you know…?"

"Because he's my brother."

Chase couldn't believe what he was hearing. So the man that dragged him here was this woman's brother? "He's your…brother?"

"Older by three years. Has protected me ever since our parents died 18 years ago in a car accident. He always told me he'd keep me safe."

"Well, if he wanted to keep you safe…why didn't he just take you to a hospital?"

"Even I don't know the answer to that question, like how I have no clue as to where he got all of this stuff."

"Well, wherever he got it, he knew what to get."

Chase turned back towards the microscope and went to work on preparing a PAP smear. He had prepared many when looking for cancer for a patient, but preparing one for AIDS wasn't all that different. After smearing a small drop of Carrie's blood on the slide, he placed it under the microscope and zoomed in close enough to see the cells. There were no foreign materials on the cells. She was negative for HIV/AIDS, therefore he was also negative. One non-curable disease down. The next target was Lupus. This one was a bit more tricky. He was going to have to do a blood count. The machine used to count the number of red and white blood cells and platelets were very similar to the one he used back in Princeton, so it didn't take him very long to run the blood. As the computer began counting the cells, Chase went back to his wall of symptoms and stared down the list. All the symptoms were incredibly vague. They ranged of diseases from Vasculitus to the Plague. Tuberculosis was up there on the list, but there was no way of transmitting TB through blood. At least, there was no way he KNEW of. But it couldn't be TB because the man would have shown symptoms of TB as well. The other possibility was pneumonia. All the symptoms fit, right down to the rapid heart beat. It was the most likely candidate. That was going to have to be his next test. He didn't want to treat her with pneumonia just yet. Normally House would have told him to start treatment anyway, but if it wasn't pneumonia, the medication could make her worse and ultimately kill her, which would not be good for her. So instead, he was going to play it safe and test her for pneumonia next. Suddenly, the printer came to life and spit out the results. Negative for Lupus. It was never Lupus. He was about to tell Carrie the good news when he saw her erupting into convulsions on the bed. Quickly, he ran over and found that she wasn't convulsing, but seizing on her bed, her heart racing. Searching through the cabinet next to her bed, he finally found haloperidol. Normally, he would have a few nurses hold her on her side to help while he injected the sedative into her, but he was alone. Take the cap off with his teeth, he turned Carrie on her side and while holding her with one arm, he drove the needle into her skin and pushed on the plunger. Slowly, she stopped seizing and she went to sleep. Another symptom: seizures. Hopefully he found the diagnosis before he obtained a seizure, or they were both dead.

TBC…

**Can anyone guess what it is yet? No cheating and reading the others reviews. Use your brains, you all are very smart, I'm sure. Please R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Just for you guys, this chapter is mostly House, Cameron, Wilson, and Foreman. Can't have ALL the chapters be about Chase, now, can I? Well…never mind, on with the show.**

**Chapter 5**

After finally telling House off, Foreman headed down to the clinic. After all, he had nothing better to do. His first patient was a mother with her six year old son who, according to her, was sick. Foreman led them into Exam Room 1 and closed the door as the boy hopped onto the bed. "Let's see here, your file says that your son has been coughing a lot and complains of a headache and a sore throat."

"That's right. He's never been like this before. It isn't serious, I hope?" she asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

Not wanting to be like House, Foreman did the normal routine for checking someone in the clinic. After doing all the necessary tests and writing down some notes on the file, she asked, "So, what's wrong with him?"

"He's just got a cold. It's nothing too serious. Every kid gets it once in their lives. You like to play sports, little guy?"

The boy nodded with a smile. "Do you like to play when it's cold outside or it's raining?"

Again, the boy smiled and nodded. "He probably got it while he was outside playing sports. Every kid does it, so you don't have to worry. Get him some medicine at the store that covers both the cough and the sore throat. He should be fine in a couple of days."

The mother thanked him and led her son out, followed by Foreman. He threw the file onto the nurse's desk and picked up the next one. Turning to the crowded waiting room, he called out, "Mr. Harry Gouse."

When the patient stood up, Foreman rolled his eyes. It was House, wearing a heavy coat, sunglasses and a hat. "House, get out of here!"

"My name isn't House, it's Gouse. Does sound similar, though," House replied.

Rolling his eyes, he led "Gouse" into the exam room. Once the door was closed, Foreman asked, "Alright, Mr. Gouse, what are your symptoms?"

"Well, I think I might have a psychological problem."

"Really?" asked Foreman with sarcasm.

"I'm angry, like to drink my problems away and I use violence to solve my problems."

Foreman quickly caught on to House's ruse. "House, enough. I thought I made it clear that I was taking no part in your antics to 'diagnose' Chase's current predicament."

Sighing, House took off his sunglasses and hat and looked at Foreman. "Look, what he did were symptoms. The cops won't see that. He was showing symptoms of a psychological problem."

"No, he was showing signs of being a drunk. You said it yourself; 'you' like to drink your problems away!"

"Drinking is a symptom."

"House, get out of here now."

"Fine, but once you're tired of the mother coming in with her child who has a simple running nose and she thinks they're dying, I'll be in my office."

House quickly limped out of the room. Foreman thought he had taken care of him when House opened the door and asked, "Can you write me another prescription for Vicodin? I'm running low."

"Get out, House!"

House quickly left without saying another word. Once he was sure House was gone, Foreman called in the next patient. Sure enough, it was another mother who had a daughter with a runny nose. "You have got to be kidding me," Foreman muttered under his breath.

"She's been like this for weeks. I think it might be serious."

Quickly, without examining the little girl, he gave the girl a box of tissues and said to the mother, "She's got the flu. Get her some flu medicine from the store and she'll be fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to be somewhere."

Foreman quickly left the exam room and headed towards the elevator. Inside, he found Cameron. "Cameron? What are you doing here? I thought you were in the ER?"

"I was, but…I need to go talk to Wilson," she replied with a very poor lie.

Foreman, however, didn't question her. They rode in the elevator in silence until Foreman said, "House came to you, didn't he?"

"He went to you too?"

Foreman nodded. After another silence, Cameron said, "He must really be desperate."

"Not desperate, insane."

Finally, they reached the fourth floor and headed directly to House's office. Inside, they saw staring at the whiteboard, juggling the ball in his hands. When they walked in, they found he wasn't alone. Wilson was in there too. "Wilson? What are you…?" began Cameron.

"He came to help with the case," interrupted House without looking at them.

Cameron and Foreman looked at Wilson, who replied, "He thinks he might have a brain tumor."

As Cameron sat down, Foreman walked over to House and said, "Are you serious? House, none of these symptoms…"

"A tumor might be pressing against the part of his brain that controls his anger. All his symptoms are coming from that area of the brain."

Shaking his head, Foreman sat down as House did a smooth turn to look at them. "Now that we're all here, let's start by throwing out some ideas on what this guy has."

"We can't do that! We don't have a family history! Besides, even if we come up with some ideas, how are we supposed to test them? He's not even a patient here," stated Cameron.

"Good point, but it might help us to understand what kind of guy we are dealing with here."

"House, we're not psychologists. We're doctors."

"You're right, but we CAN bring in a psychologist, who should have been here…half an hour ago," stated House, looking at his watch.

All three of them were lost for words. "You called in a psychologist already?" asked Cameron.

"Didn't want to wait for you guys to show up. You take forever when you're trying to decide what's ethical and what isn't," smiled House when a young female poked her head into the room. "Is one of you Dr. Gregory House?" she asked in her thick British accent.

"That's me. Thank you for arriving on such short notice," replied House, walking up to her and shaking her hand. Once their hands left, House turned to his team and replied, "This is Dr. Amy Fischer. She's one of the best psychologists in the state of New Jersey. She can find out what's wrong with you without saying a word. You wouldn't mind having a look at Cameron, I think she might be bipolar," House stated.

Dr. Fischer smiled as she explained, "We went to high school together."

"Well, that explains a lot," muttered Wilson as he leaned back in his chair.

"Anyway, Dr. Fischer, you wouldn't mind taking a look at the whiteboard and telling me what you think? I can't get anything out of these monkeys."

"You're just like you our junior year," she smiled as she walked forward to look at the board.

Cameron, Wilson and Foreman exchanged glances at one another as Dr. Fischer looked over the board. "This is very interesting," she muttered.

Turning back to look at the group, she replied, "This is definitely psychological. However, I can't say for sure what it is. I need more than what's just written here. I need to see what he acts like and hear what he says."

"Well, we could get the tapes from hospital security," stated House.

"Cuddy already handed them over to the police," replied Cameron.

There was an awkward silence until a light bulb turned on over Wilson's head. "That kid that was in the room. He's still in PICU. He heard everything!"

"Why don't we pay little Benjamin a visit and see what we can get out of him," smiled House as he limped away. Everyone, including Dr. Fischer, looked at one another and then quickly ran after him. "House!" shouted Cameron, causing the doctor to stop and turn.

Once he saw them, he continued on his merry way. "House, what exactly do you plan on asking him?" asked Foreman.

"I'm not going to as him anything. Dr. Fischer is going to ask the questions. She's the psychologist, I'm just the crazy doctor, remember?"

"The police are already going to be interviewing him," replied Cameron.

"What is it with you and the police? You don't expect them to be with him 24/7?"

They arrived just outside Benjamin's room, where they saw the young boy laying in his bed with his mother and father sitting with him. A police officer stood by his door. "Okay, maybe they will stay with him 24/7," muttered House.

House began to walk up to him, followed by the group. "Excuse me, I'm Dr. House. I'm one of his doctors. I need Dr. Fischer here to go in and ask him some questions," explained House.

"What do you need to ask him?" asked the officer.

"Just want to make sure he is still mentally stable. After all, he did witness a horrific event," Dr. Fischer replied.

"There is no way that is going…" began Foreman to Cameron and Wilson quietly when the officer let Dr. Fischer and House in. Foreman, Cameron and Wilson stood in awe as they watched them enter the room. They could tell that House had asked the parents to leave and without question, they left. House followed after them and stated, "Dr. Fischer wants to talk with him alone. We'll wait for her in my office."

House quickly left, but Foreman, Cameron and Wilson stayed rooted to the spot. "What's gotten into him?" asked Foreman.

"I don't know, but I think we might be seeing a change in him," replied Wilson.

Wilson walked after him as Foreman said, "That's either a good thing or a bad thing."

"Chase is never going to believe this," muttered Cameron as they ran after them, leaving Dr. Fischer in the room with young Benjamin, getting clues that my just help solve the case.

TBC…

**Okay, I lied. It's ALL House, Foreman, Cameron and Wilson. This Dr. Fischer is definitely going to cause House to flirt and maybe get Cuddy to get a little jealous. Wouldn't we ALL like to see that? Anyway, please R&R!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Glad you guys like this story. Now, it may feel like this is coming to an end, but I'll let you know that even though the mystery is almost solved…in fact, it's solved in the next chapter, this story has a ways to go. We still got the treatment for this disease and some other fun stuff that will include our favorite doctor and his fellow ducklings.**

**Chapter 6**

If you were to see Chase now, you wouldn't recognize him. He looked like shit. Another day had passed with a sleepless night. He was deteriorating. Bags were forming under his eyes, his skin was paler, and his hair was falling into his face. To go along with this, Chase had rolled up his sleeves and loosened his tie. His shirt was unpressed and wrinkled. Not to mention that he stunk. The first thing he was going to do when he got out was he to take a bath and sleep. As he was getting ready to test her blood for pneumonia, he began to wonder. All of her symptoms were caused by pneumonia. It was perfect. Maybe it was time for treatment. He put his supplies to the side and began banging on the door, which didn't help his headache in any way. The port hole opened and the man's voice asked angrily, "What do you want?"

"I need intravenous antibiotics."

"Intravenous antibiotics are for pneumonia. You think she has pneumonia?"

"I can't say for sure, but the test takes some time, time she may not have. If I start treatment, it might give me time to test her or it might cure her."

"What if it isn't pneumonia?"

"It's very likely that it is pneumonia. All of her symptoms fit it. If the intravenous antibiotics don't work, then I continue testing."

The man stared at Chase and replied, "Wait right here."

The port hole shut and Chase could hear his heavy footsteps fade away. Supporting his weight against the wall, Chase waited. Another coughing fit overcame him and with it came more blood. Once he stopped coughing, his breathing became labored. Each breath of air was painful. Chase remained calm and made a mental note to find an oxygen tube for himself. The footsteps got louder, warning him of the man coming back to the door. Chase lifted himself from the wall as the port hole opened and the man's hand appeared with a vial of the intravenous antibiotics. "Where did…?" began Chase.

"Don't ask questions. Treat her."

The port hole slammed shut and Chase was left to wonder. It was then that he remembered he was having a hard time breathing and quickly went to find an oxygen tube. It would be easier to move around with just a simple line than an actual mask. Looking around, he found a spare oxygen tank and an oxygen line. He quickly hooked it up and put the line around his face. After turning on the oxygen, he breathed in and felt much more relaxed. The breathing became less labored and for once, he actually felt better. The oxygen line was incredibly long, like most were, allowing him to move freely around the room. Once he wheeled the tank over to Carrie's bedside, he began to hook up the line. Slowly, she woke and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I could give you the entire medical explanation, but I'll skip the speech and give you the dummy version. I'm treating you for pneumonia."

"Pneumonia?"

Chase finished hooking up the line and replied, "Yeah, now if you're going to repeat everything I say, I'm going to inject you with Haldol again so I can get some piece and quiet while I run a few more tests."

"But, if you're treating me for pneumonia, doesn't that mean you don't have to run any more tests?"

"That would be the logical way of looking at it, but I'm not so sure it is pneumonia. I need to do a blood culture to be sure, but I wanted to get you started on this before I began the tests on you."

"But, if it is pneumonia and you're testing for it, doesn't that mean you shouldn't have put the medication in me just yet?"

Chase thought about it for a minute and realized his mistake. "SHIT!"

Chase quickly removed the medical tube from her IV line and set it on the table next to her. "Damn it, what the hell was I thinking? Now I can't run the bloody test because the antibiotics got into your system. I'm going to have to wait until the drugs clear out of your system before I run ANY bloody tests."

Chase swore under his breath as he turned and kicked a rolling table to the side with anger. This disease, whatever it was, was disrupting his thought process. If he couldn't think of a way to treat someone, how was he going to be able to save his own damn life? Slowly, Carrie sat up and said, "It's not your fault."

"Yeah, it is."

"No it isn't. Whatever this is, it's affecting your judgment. I'm sure that if you were better, you wouldn't have made that mistake."

"Tell that to my father…oh wait, you can't. My father is dead."

Why was he so emotional? He had never been this way before. Sure, when a patient died on his watch, but not because he made a stupid mistake. Carrie huffed at him and replied, "Hey, I was just trying to be nice. So sue me if I was trying to make you feel better."

Chase turned to continue the argument when he noticed a thin trail of red coming down from her nose. His anger in his eyes disappeared and a look a shock took it's place. "What?" she asked.

"You're bleeding."

"No I'm not."

Chase grabbed a towel from her bedside table and held it up to her nose. She tried to swat him away, causing a pain in his arm. "What the hell do you think…?"

Chase pulled his arm away in pain as the towel dropped, the blood showing on the top. Her eyes were wide when she saw the blood. "Is that from…?"

"It's not pneumonia," he replied without looking at her.

"How can you say…?" she began, but stopped when Chase pulled his hand away from the spot where she had hit him to reveal discoloration. "Wh…what does it mean?" she asked.

Chase looked up at her and replied, "It's not good."

"What is it?"

TBC…

**Oh, what is it indeed? Well, if you can guess it correctly…you get the next chapter dedicated to you! The symptoms are; Coughing blood, fever, feeling of being cold,** **headaches, nausea, muscle pain, rapid heart beat, hard time breathing, seizures, nose bleeds and discoloration of the skin. However, I'll tell you that the feeling of being cold is caused by the fever, the rapid heart beat is not medically related and two of these symptoms classify under something else. MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Anyway, please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well, the mystery gets revealed! Unfortunately, no one got the disease correct, and I don't blame you. It is a very rare, very off the wall disease, but because I love you all, I am dedicating this chapter to my faithful readers. This one goes out to you all!**

**Chapter 7**

This wasn't good. If the disease what Chase thought it was…the chances of living were 30%. To be sure, he had to do a biopsy, but there was no biopsy needles around. There was, however, a bone marrow extractor. It was going to be painful, but it was the only way to take a sample to do the test. Strapping on a pair of gloves, Chase grabbed the syringe and the needle from the table and walked over to Carrie. The world began to spin, probably due to the headache throbbing in his head, but it made it hard to put one foot in front of the other. But he managed to get over his dizziness and found himself at Carrie's bed. "I need a bone marrow sample."

"A bone marrow sample?"

"Yes. It's going to be painful, but it's the only way I can test you for this."

"Test me for what?"

"Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis," replied Chase, removing her blanket from her leg and wiping her skin with alcohol.

"Lymph-whats-its?"

"Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis is a rare progressive blood vessel disease. It's almost like cancer, but even more deadly. Normally I would take a biopsy, but seeing as how there are no biopsy needles, I'll go with the second best thing; bone marrow. This is going to hurt."

And with that, he slowly pushed the needle through her skin and into her bone. Carrie began to tremble and grit, but Chase didn't let up. Things began to get fuzzy again, but he shook it off and descended further into the bone until he thought it was a good enough spot to take some marrow. After attaching the syringe, he slowly pulled out a sample. To relieve the pain, he removed the instruments and placed a bandage over the sight. Once he threw the needle to the side, he looked at Carrie and said, "Just relax. Hopefully this will be all over soon."

Chase then went over to the test machines to test the bone marrow. After going through the necessary procedures, he waited and looked at the results. It was at that moment that his thoughts were confirmed. She was positive for Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis. The only treatment was chemotherapy, and Chase doubted that this madman had a bag of chemo lying around the house. There was only one way this was going to work. With haste, he ran to the door and started beating on it. Suddenly, the port hole opened and the man asked, "What do you want?"

"I need to get her to a hospital."

"Didn't the pneumonia medication work?"

"She doesn't have pneumonia."

"Then what does she have."

"Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis."

The man stared him with a look of questioning. "No, it's not possible. Her symptoms don't all fit it."

"Yes they do. The rapid heart beat only occurred when I told her to lie and pretend she was feeling better. That's not medically related. Her nausea and her headaches are classified as malaise, which IS a symptom of Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis. The only treatment that has proven to work is chemotherapy, and even YOU don't have that."

"I can find some."

"Even if you did, this room isn't sterile enough. She'd get an infection before the treatment started working. We need to get her to Princeton now."

"And how do you suppose we do that? We can't just walk in!"

That was true and if Chase was seen just walking in with a patient, he'd be stopped and asked a billion questions and they would both slowly start to deteriorate and gasp for air. Their oxygen supply would have to be limited until they got a hospital room. Thinking quickly, he replied, "I have an idea."

* * *

The hospital was bustling with people in the main lobby, many including patients, doctors, nurses, and cops investigating the disappearance of Dr. Chase. Just when they thought things were going normal, the doors crashed open and a man with two people in front of him, hands in the air, came running in with his gun pointed everywhere. "NOBODY MOVE OR I KILL THEM!"

People screamed and ran off in different directions. The police tried to hold a barricade, holding their weapons at the men. "LET THE HOSTAGES GO!"

"LET ME THROUGH!" the gunman replied.

Cuddy looked up from her spot in the clinic and immediately recognized one of the hostages as Dr. Robert Chase. She ran out of the doors and at the police, only to have them stop her. "Ma'am, we can't let you through," the officer ordered.

The gunman then put the barrel of the gun against Dr. Chase's neck. "LET ME THROUGH OR THE DOCTOR GETS IT!"

The police showed no signs of backing down. Removing the gun from Dr. Chase's neck, he fired a round in the air and ordered, "LET ME THROUGH!"

Cuddy could see that Chase was pale and sickly. It was an unbearable sight before her. The gunman didn't wait for the cops to move; he pushed the hostages forward and fired off rounds. The police quickly made a path, keeping their guns trained on the gunman. The way he had his hostages situated, there was no clear shot. As they got into the elevator, he shouted, "NO ONE FOLLOW US OR THEIR BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS!"

And then, the doors closed. The police began to scramble around, getting everyone evacuated from the hospital. The chief stared at the elevator and saw the lights stop on floor two. "Their on floor two," he stated for Cuddy to hear.

The second floor was the ICU, and that could only mean one thing. "Men, get everyone evacuated off of floor two. If you see the gunman, shoot on sight and release the hostages. I repeat, shoot on sight and release the hostages."

Cuddy stood rooted to the spot as she watched officers run up the stairs. As she stared, the chief took her by the shoulder and said, "We need to get you out of here too, ma'am."

Cuddy nodded and followed the police out, hoping that her doctor would remain safe.

TBC…

**Please R&R! Oh, BTW, you may wonder why Chase seems to be developing the symptoms faster, and if you guess it, then the next chapter will be dedicated to you!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Wow, a lot of good guesses. Some of you got close, so I'll give you guys credit. This chapter goes out to x-sinister, darkangelz95 and the-vampire-act. Congratulations! Anyway, on with the story!**

**Chapter 8**

They were exactly where they had started. While sitting in House's office, they heard the familiar gunshots roaring through the halls. When they peered through the glass, they had seen the gunman with a deathly pale looking Chase and some unknown female, dragging them into a hospital room and closing the shades. Once the cops had escorted them all out, House, Wilson, Cameron and Foreman stood in the courtyard, waiting for news. From what they saw, Chase looked like he was suffering and in pain. The man had done something dreadful to him and whatever it was made their colleague unrecognizable. House sat on the bench, resting his chin on his cane as people swarmed around them. Cameron, Wilson and Foreman scanned the crowd, looking for Dr. Fischer, only to come up short. "Where do you think she is?" asked Foreman.

"If she's anything like I remember, she never leaves a job half done," replied House, causing Cameron to stare at him with an amused look on her face. House caught her stare and replied, "What? I couldn't have had a social life when I was young?"

Cameron rolled her eyes as she turned back to scan the crowd. House looked around as well. He wanted to figure out this puzzle as soon as possible. He was running low on Vicodin and the only other thing to relieve his pain was a good puzzle. As he waited, he peered up at the second floor windows where his newest puzzle was to be found.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the room, the man had finished setting up Carrie's oxygen mask as Chase put his oxygen line around his face. "So what now?" asked the man.

"I need two bags of chemo. You're going to need to go to radiology to find them. Once you have two bags, bring them straight here."

The man nodded and quickly left. Once he was gone, Carrie smiled, "Thank you for doing this."

"Like I have a choice," muttered Chase as a wave of coughing swept over him. He quickly turned away to avoid contaminating the area as red sputum flew from his mouth. Once it was gone, Carrie said, "You know what's funny?"

"What? That I'm dying and you'll live?"

"No. I didn't start coughing until a year ago."

"But you said you've been sick for 3 years." And that's when it hit Chase. "What's your blood type?"

"Why does that matter?"

"Just tell me what you're bloody blood type is."

"A positive, why?"

Slowly, Chase fell into the arm chair. "What?"

"I'm B negative. I can't receive A positive blood."

"But you only got the disease, right?"

"It's not that simple. This disease creates lesions in your body on your lungs, kidneys, brains, liver or skin to destroy your blood vessels. When they form, they pick up your blood type markers. When he removed the disease from your blood, it had been attached to one of your organs for three years, allowing the disease to copy most of the genetic sequencing. When it entered my blood, it headed straight for my organs and when they formed, the two blood types mixed. The genes affect my immune system and organs, making it weaker and harder to fight off the disease. What took three years to develop in you only took a matter of minutes in me. The disease is progressing exponentially in me. I could be dead in a matter of minutes."

* * *

It wasn't long before Dr. Fischer came quickly up to the group. "I think I figured out what's wrong with him."

Everyone turned and looked at the psychologist. "It's post traumatic stress disorder."

"How do you know that?" asked Foreman.

"The boy said that when the man talked, he sounded frightened, almost paranoid before he quickly went to angry. Something must have happened to him with a doctor or in a hospital. It's very possible that something happened in a hospital that made him fear hospitals so that when he needed a doctor, he didn't feel safe enough to stay or bring someone here."

"But if he does have PTSD, why come back?" asked Wilson.

"He's desperate. But if he does have PTSD and it has to do with a hospital then he is very unstable and we have to be careful when dealing with him."

This news, although helpful, brought no comfort to them, not even House.

* * *

As Chase sat in the corner, biting his nails, the man returned with two bags of chemo in hand. After throwing one of them on Chase's lap, he ordered, "Treat her."

Without hesitating, Chase hung the bag and inserted the IV line. Once Carrie was situated, he was just about to set up his line when the man snatched the line away from him. "What are you...?"

"Not until she is better."

Not wanting to make him angry, Chase backed off and watched as the man went to the window. "How long does it take for this stuff to work?"

"It could take some time."

"HOW DAMN LONG!"

"It could take a few weeks." After sighing, he looked back out the window and muttered, "We shouldn't have come here. I could have easily gotten the chemo from somewhere."

"Oh yeah, sure, every department store carries bags of chemo," muttered Chase. Then he began to think. "Why do you hate hospitals?"

The man didn't answer him. It was confusing. Here was a man who served in a hospital station for the army…and that's when it hit him. Looking at the man, he asked, "What happened at that hospital that makes you hate them?"

The man didn't answer. "Did your best friend come in and die while you were operating on him?"

The man's face began to grow red. "Or was it…?"

"SHUT UP! DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW!"

"What happened?"

Suddenly, from the bed, Carrie started, "He was stationed at a hospital in Baghdad. They were really busy because of a suicide bomber that attacked a local mall. He was busy trying to heal everyone when his co-worker and best friend told him to get some water from the base. When he left, the hospital exploded, killing everyone in there. Turns out one of the civilians they were treating was a member of Al Qaeda and had snuck in a bomb. He's never stepped foot in a hospital since."

So that was it. The man was suffering from PTSD. A very uncommon PTSD, but it was all the same. The man, however, didn't exactly like the fact his life story was told and he pointed the gun at Carrie. "Why the hell did you tell him!"

Chase stood up and shouted, "Hey, put the gun down! She's not going to get better if you shoot her!"

The man stopped and turned around. "You're right, she won't."

Suddenly, Chase had a sudden pain in his chest. Clenching it, he fell back into the armchair. When he looked up, he saw the man smirking. "Well, it looks like you've served your purpose. This is where we come to an end."

Slowly, he lifted his gun. Chase quickly asked, "You're going to shoot me?"

The man nodded. "But I cured her."

"Yes, you did, but I can't afford any loose ends."

As he began to pull the trigger, Chase said, "But, you're going to need me to make sure her vitals stay stable."

"I'm a doctor, I know how to make sure everything goes fine."

Suddenly, they heard the sounds of heavy footsteps running down the hall towards them. Chase smiled. It was the cops. They were going to stop this mess. But the man looked furious. With a growl, he stated, "Goodbye, Dr. Chase."

All he remembered was a loud gunshot, Carrie's screams, the door being kicked down and an excruciating pain.

TBC…

**Please R&R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, just so you know, I am not a doctor and thanks to The Jackal, my evil mind has come up with this other explanation…okay, x sinister, darkangelz95 and the-vampire-act did, so they still get kudos for that chapter…and this chapter. YAY you three!**

**Chapter 9**

Outside, the SWAT team huddled around their chief as he informed them of the situation. Once he was done talking, they began to move in. With haste, they climbed the stairwell and had just reached the second floor when they heard a gunshot. When they ran into the room where the sound had come from, they saw the man standing over one of the hostages with his gun raised and the blonde male on the floor with a bullet wound in his side. When the gunman turned around, he raised his gun and was about to shoot when the police fired two rounds into him. The female screamed as he fell to the ground dead. The SWAT team rushed in and kneeled next to the man. After checking his vitals, they confirmed his death. Two ran up to the girl in the bed and two more ran to the wounded doctor. As they tried to keep the blonde doctor awake, he whispered something to one of them and fell into unconsciousness. The leader of the team walked up to him and asked, "What did he say?"

"He said get Dr. House and tell him lympho-whatsits granumindus…or something like that," the member replied.

The leader nodded and headed down the stairs to the courtyard out front.

* * *

Meanwhile, House continued to sit on the bench with Foreman, Cameron, Wilson, Cuddy and Fischer standing around him, discussing something. He wasn't exactly paying attention. Instead, he took out his bottle of pills and popped one into his mouth. Everyone turned as the SWAT leader came out, shouting, "I need Dr. House!"

Cuddy and Wilson turned to House, who averted his eyes to the ground. Rolling her eyes, Cuddy waved her hand at the cop and indicated he was over there. The cop came running over and asked House, "Are you Dr. House?"

"Who's asking?"

"One of the hostages we ID'd as Dr. Robert Chase told one of my men to tell you lympho-something granu-something."

All of the doctors looked at him in confusion. "Do you mean Lymphomatiod Granulomatosis?" asked Cameron.

"I'm not sure. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Depends. Where is he?" asked House.

The cop gestured for House and everyone else to follow him into the hospital. With a simple nod, the team, minus Dr. Fischer, quickly made their way into the hospital and to the second floor. When they reached the room where they found them, they were stricken with grief. There lay Chase, a bullet wound in his shoulder and the gunman on the ground dead. Another girl sat upright in the bed, an oxygen tube connected to her. House walked up to the cop attending Chase and asked, "Did he talk to you?"

The cop nodded. "Did he say Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis?"

The cop nodded again. House turned to the girl in the bed and asked, "What do you know?"

"He said I…we have Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis," she replied in shock.

House looked at her in realization and turned back to the cop next to Chase, who had no oxygen supply attached to him. "How's his breathing?"

"Labored, but existent."

House threw his cane at Cameron and kneeled next to Chase. Once he leant his ear next to Chase's mouth, he turned to Cameron and Foreman and ordered, "Get a gurney and a room available. We need to get him hooked up to an oxygen supply stat."

Cameron handed House's cane to Wilson as she and Foreman ran out of the room. Once they were gone, he said to Wilson, "Check the bag she's hooked up to. Is it chemo?"

Wilson stared at the label on the bag and nodded. "Make sure to get another round of it."

Wilson passed the cane off to Cuddy after he ran down the halls. Cuddy came up next to House and kneeled next to him, asking, "What are you going to do?"

"Chase's breathing is labored and he said they BOTH have the disease. I'm guessing the reason his breathing is labored is because of the disease. We're going to treat him now. The disease should be in its early stages, so it should be easy…"

Suddenly, the girl's voice rang out, "It's not."

House and Cuddy turned to look at the girl. "What do you mean…?"

"He said something about his blood type and mine being different so the disease was raging through him quicker."

House looked away as Cuddy stated, "Different blood types wouldn't make a disease work quicker."

"You're right…but he works in a hospital."

"Yeah, your point being?"

"His immune system is weakened. He could have easily picked up a simple disease here in the hospital that weakened his immune system."

"But not make him sick?"

House turned and smiled at Cuddy. "His immune system was fighting off that disease when this one entered his…allowing it to flow freely. Maybe I should have the Wombat complete another year of med school."

Finally, Cameron and Foreman came running in with a gurney. Quickly, they lifted Chase off of the ground and, mindful of his bullet wound, placed him gently on the gurney. As they wheeled him away, Cuddy asked, "What are you going to do now?"

But House ignored her and walked out towards his office. As he limped down the halls, he noticed Wilson putting the chemo in place. Quickly, he opened the door and shouted, "What are you trying to do? Kill him?"

All three looked at him like he was crazy and watched as he walked away. With curiosity, they quickly followed. When they caught up to him, Foreman asked, "What do you mean?"

"His immune system is already weakened. Using chemo is only going to make things worse."

When they reached his differential room, they walked in and Cameron asked, "Then what are we going to do?"

Ignoring her question, he walked into his office and grabbed his ball from his desk. Once it was in his hand, he walked back into the differential room and up to his whiteboard, hanging his cane over the board and grabbing a pen. As he wrote down a few things on he board, he ranted off, "The Wombat is having some shitty luck. He has a weakened immune system and Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis…I hate saying that over again. Let's just call it LG from now on. Now then, we can't use chemo because it will get rid of the rest of his antibodies that are trying to fight off both diseases…"

"He has two diseases?" asked Foreman.

"I'm not done yet! Anyway, we have to think of a way to clear up both disease before he pops off."

After writing down "LG" and "MYSTERY DISEASE" on his whiteboard, he turned and looked at his group, which had magically added Cuddy to the mix. "Glad you could join us, Cuddy, we could use another brain. Differential diagnosis, people! Go! And remember, we're limited on time, so you might want to think of some treatments quick."

TBC…

**Oooooh…evil cliffie! Any ideas? Please R&R!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Whoa…we've almost reached 100! 100 reviews for my first House fic? AMAZING! Anyway, here ya go!**

**Chapter 10**

The room was silent. Everyone stood, pondering what they could do. They weren't sure. They weren't sure what the mystery disease was and the direct treatment for Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis was chemotherapy, but because Chase's immune system was compromised by the mystery disease, they couldn't kill off the rest of his antibodies. It would only make the Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis work faster. Lifting his head up, Foreman asked, "What are we going to do with the bullet?"

"He doesn't have enough antibodies to survive surgery. He could obtain another infection while on the operating table," replied Wilson.

"Why don't we just pump him up with antibodies?"

"That won't work. The moment the new antibodies get into his system, they'll be obliterated by the diseases," replied Cameron.

"But it would buy us some time to at least exercise the bullet from his shoulder and prevent lead poisoning," countered Foreman.

All eyes turned to House, who stood staring at his empty whiteboard. After thinking it over, House replied, "Go do that then."

Foreman nodded and quickly ran out of the room. Once he was gone, House turned to Wilson, Cuddy and Cameron and asked, "Any other brilliant ideas?"

There was no answer. Not even a motion of the head. Turning back to his whiteboard, he stared, hoping the answer would just come to him. With some contemplation, he asked, "What are the symptoms is the Wombat showing?"

"Coughing of red sputum, fever, malaise, breathing difficulty, chest pain, discolored skin spots and muscle pain," ranted off Cameron.

As she stated each symptom, House quickly jotted it down on the board. Once he finished writing "MUSCLE PAIN", he stared at the symptoms. Then the idea came to him. "What if some of these symptoms are part of the other disease?"

"Where are you going with this, House?" asked Wilson.

Then, he began to write stuff under "MYSTERY DISEASE". Once he was done, he stepped away and revealed "FEVR" and "COUGH". "Wow, you managed to pick the two most common symptoms of every single disease known to man," stated Wilson.

"Yes, but what other symptoms could attribute to our mystery disease?"

They all looked at the board, hoping to see something. Then, Cuddy spoke up, "If we include malaise, that narrows it down. It could be a rhinovirus."

House nodded and wrote "RHINO" under "MYSTERY DISEASE". "What else?"

"If you include breathing difficulty instead of malaise, you're looking at adenoviruses," stated Wilson.

House nodded and put it on the board. "You're turn, Cameron."

"Well…he has chest pain…could be legionella."

Once House wrote down "LEGIONELLA", he looked at the board and ordered, "Alright, go test him for these three."

"It could be others, though," stated Cameron.

"YOU DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!" House shouted, pounding his cane into the floor as he turned to look at them. Wilson, Cameron and Cuddy fell back in shock. He never acted like this before. Realizing what he just did, he took out his vial of Vicodin and popped one into his mouth. "Just go do it."

They nodded and left, save for Cuddy. As Wilson and Cameron left the room, Cuddy walked up to House and asked, "Are you alright, House?"

With a sigh, House looked away and replied, "Yeah. Leg pain…you know the deal. Don't you have an employee to go save?"

Before Cuddy left, she smiled and replied, "It's okay to be worried. You're human. We all are. If you need to talk about it, I'm here."

As Cuddy left, House shouted, "Is it okay to talk to you about not blocking my porn sites here at work?"

Cuddy rolled her eyes as she left his office. Once she was gone, House turned back to his whiteboard and stared at it furiously. Something was missing…it had to be missing. It didn't seem right. The three most plausible diseases were on the board, but he wasn't sure which one it was. He hated not knowing. This was a puzzle and he needed to solve it. It was his other, non-deadly version of getting high. And this was the highest he felt. Two diseases with a Catch-22. Catch-22…the catch…catching the mystery disease…then the question popped into his head. How did Chase catch the mystery disease? If it was here at the hospital, that narrowed it down to the Rhinovirus or Legionella. If it was outside the hospital, that narrowed it down to the Rhinovirus, legionella and adenoviruses. The Rhinovirus was in both scenarios…could that simple disease really be causing all that trouble? He didn't want to wait to find out. Quickly, he limped his way out of his office and down towards the lab. Wilson and Cuddy stood over Cameron who was busy testing Chase's blood. "What test are you doing?"

"Legionella, why?" asked Cameron.

"Forget legionella. That was a stupid idea. Do the rhinovirus."

Cameron rolled her eyes. Legionella was her idea. As she began the test, House ordered, "Page me when you get the results."

As House walked out of the room, Foreman met up with House. "We scheduled Chase for surgery tonight. That should give him plenty of time to get enough antibodies into his system but close enough to where there are plenty of antibodies to fight off any possible infections."

"Good. Make sure you scrub up for that. Hopefully when he gets out, we can start treating him."

Foreman nodded and ran past him towards the operating rooms. The moment Foreman left, House was abandoned in the hospital walls. There was no one around. Sure, people were now coming back into the hospital to get back to work, but they all avoided the second floor. Pure silence. Turning, House peered into the window that allowed visual access to Chase's room. The blonde wombat lay there completely silent. And for once, House felt sympathy for the Wombat.

TBC…

**So, do you think it's Rhinovirus? Or do you think it's one of the other two? Please R&R!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Well, good guesses…you ready for the answer? This chapter moves kind of fast, but it's supposed to resemble that time in the show when they're all rushing around to find the final answer to race against time. Anyway, the answer!**

**Chapter 11**

House sat in his office, playing with his ball. He was still waiting on Cameron's page and Chase had been okayed for surgery. Things were going well. He knew it was the Rhinovirus, but of course everyone wanted proof, so proof they got. As he sat, throwing his ball in the air and catching it, his pager went off. Once the ball hit his hands, he looked down and saw it was from none other than Cameron. With a smirk, he grabbed his cane and began to limp down the hall to the lab. It was late that night and everyone was either asleep or at home. It was a quiet, eerie feeling, but House often enjoyed their solitude. The moment he stepped through the doors into the lab, House smiled, "Who's good?"

"Well, not you. The test for Rhinovirus came back negative," replied Cameron, handing him the results.

House look confounded as he snatched the paper away from her hands. "Did you do the other tests?"

"They all came back negative," replied Wilson.

House stared down at the paper. What was he missing? There was something he was missing…Bring the piece of paper down from his face, House limped back to the differential room with Cameron and Wilson following. Once they reached the whiteboard, House looked at the symptoms, looking for something. Spinning his cane, he went into a state of deep thought. "Any ideas?" he asked.

"Maybe there is no mystery disease. Maybe the strain of the Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis is a faster one," replied Cameron.

"If it was, he'd already be dead," replied Wilson.

"What if it's not Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis?"

"The treatment is working the other patient. It's Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis."

Slowly, House picked up the marker and opened the cap. After staring at the board for a few moments, he began to write something. Both Cameron and Wilson craned their necks to see what he was writing, but they didn't see anything until House stepped away. Under MYSTERY DISEASE were two new symptoms; COUGHING UP BLOOD, CHEST PAIN. "Why did you write those? I thought we explained those with Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis?" asked Cameron.

"We did, but these two symptoms also fit another disease. Actinomycetales infection."

"Where did you pull that from?" asked Wilson.

"Why didn't we assume that coughing up blood was a symptom of the other disease too?"

They both stared at him in confusion. "We didn't because, as Cameron already explained, it was explained with Lympho-whats-its. Once Chase is out of surgery, go do a chest x-ray. Look for lesions on a rib or somewhere there shouldn't be one."

Cameron and Wilson nodded and headed down to the OR observation room. Once they were gone, House stared at the board with his evil genius smirk on his face.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cameron and Wilson stood with Cuddy as they watched Foreman and the OR doctors extracting the bullet. With a sigh, Cameron asked, "Why did this have to happen?"

"Bad things happen, Cameron. You of all people should know that," replied Wilson, resting his arm against the glass.

They all continued to watch as the surgeon removed the metal bullet from Chase's shoulder. As they began to close him up, Foreman came up the stairs and asked, "So? What is it?"

"House thinks it's an Actinomycetales infection," replied Wilson.

"Where did he pull that out from?" asked Cuddy.

Cameron shrugged as Foreman said, "It's House. He always comes up with weird theories."

"And they always end up being right," finished Cameron.

As they wheeled Chase to the OR recovery room, Cuddy stated, "I'm going to tell House that the surgery is over. Like he's going to care anyways."

As she left, Wilson asked Foreman, "How long do we have to wait to do an x-ray?"

"An hour is the normal waiting period, but Chase might not have that kind of time."

"We need to get that x-ray now," replied Cameron.

Together, the three of them headed to the OR recovery room. When they arrived, they saw the surgeon marking something on his chart. "How is he?" asked Cameron as they came walking in.

"He's good, for now. He should probably wake up in an hour or so."

Foreman and Wilson rushed past him and began to get Chase's bed ready to move. "What the Hell are you…?" began the surgeon.

"We need to get a chest x-ray for a diagnosis," explained Cameron as the two men wheeled Chase away. Cameron quickly caught up with them and followed them into the X-Ray room. Once they had him all set up, they began to take pictures. Once they were done, they put him back in the OR recovery room and waited for the pictures to get developed. That moment in time was the longest yet. Cuddy, Cameron, Foreman and House all sat in the differential room, waiting for the pictures. It was a dead quiet in the room. Finally, Wilson came in with the results, a smile on his face. "Pictures show a lesion on his ribcage."

They all smiled. With a smile on his face, House said, "Go start treatment. As soon as the infection is gone, start the chemo."

Cameron and Foreman nodded as they headed out to do their duty. Wilson followed and before Cuddy left, she turned to House and said, "Good work, House."

"You know, I saved one of your employees. I think I get some kind of reward."

With a smile, Cuddy replied, "Bye House."

And with that, she left, leaving House in a state of victory.

TBC…

**Didn't see that coming did you? Please R&R! Got maybe two chapters left.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

As Cameron hung up the Penicillin IV on the rack, she asked Wilson, "How long before it's safe to start with the chemo?"

"Normally, the penicillin takes about 1 to 2 months from IV with an extra 6 to 10 months with penicillin by mouth."

"But Chase doesn't have that long."

"Which is why I'm waiting until he shows signs of vast improvement before we start the chemo. If we start it too early, the chemo will raid his system and the penicillin will be useless to fight off the infection."

"And if we start too late?"

Wilson didn't answer. Once the IV was dripping, Cameron excused herself from the room and headed towards the cafeteria. Meanwhile, Wilson sat in Chase's room, watching and observing. The minute Chase was ready by his standards, he would move him directly over to Chemo. After a few hours, Wilson found himself waking up to House's cane smacking the table that Wilson was currently using as a pillow. "Morning, Sunshine," House greeted.

"Wow, this is some dream," groaned Wilson.

House looked at him skeptically. "You in the same room as a patient? I must be dreaming," explained Wilson.

"Well, be amazed. I'm full of surprises. How's the Wombat doing?"

Slowly, Wilson stood up from his chair and walked over to Chase, resting his hand on Chase's forehead. "His fever has gone down a bit."

"What about the infection? Is it gone yet?"

"It's only been a couple of hours since we gave him the IV. He might not show signs of improvement until tomorrow."

"That is if he was JUST on Penicillin."

Wilson looked over at House, who had a smug grin on his face. "What are you going on about?"

Nodding his head from side to side, House squeaked, "I MAY have given Cameron a bag of Penicillin and any other broad spectrum antibiotics to help clear up the infection quicker."

"HOUSE!"

Jumping a bit, House looked over at Wilson and playfully stated, "No need to shout. I'm right here!"

"Does your depravity know no bounds?"

"What? I just gave the penicillin some steroids to hit this infection out of the ballpark. I think you'll find that's the exact OPPOSITE of corruption…or maybe it is the same…oh well, I'm sure it's safe to start Chemo now."

"Unless you've killed his immune system already."

"Well, if you're so worried, then I guess I shouldn't cancel the surgery this afternoon."

Wilson once again turned to House and asked with a quizzical look, "What surgery?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I booked the OR again so they can drain the legions on his ribs. It should speed up the process even more."

Rolling his eyes, Wilson replied, "Two surgeries in one day? If that's not against the rules, it has to be unethical."

"Actually, the code of conduct says you have to wait approximately twenty-four hours between surgeries UNLESS it's an emergency. I told them he would die if they didn't do the surgery."

"I'm surprised God hasn't smitten you yet. You clearly deserve it."

House grinned as Wilson left the room in a huff. Turning to Chase, House smiled, "You are SO going to do my clinic hours when you're back on your feet again. You owe me."

And with that, House left the room, a satisfactory smug etched across his face.

* * *

That night, Chase went into surgery, where the surgeons successfully drained all of the legions. Once the surgery was over, Wilson tested Chase's blood once more and came to the conclusion that, thanks to House's unethical and almost deadly mixture of antibiotics and steroids, the infection had gone down enough to the point where they could start Chemo. Foreman, Cameron, Wilson and Cuddy each took turns watching over Chase as the Chemo was being distributed in case House's earlier tactics had gone awry. Cameron was reading a magazine when a groan came from Chase's bed. Quickly, she jumped over and watched as Chase opened his blue eyes and asked, "Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital," she smiled, holding back tears.

Looking directly at her, he asked, "Was I right?"

"Yeah. You were right."

There was a sweet smile on Chase's face as he slowly fell back asleep. Cameron let out a lighthearted laugh as she adjusted the blankets around him.

* * *

After a week of the chemo and a continued treatment of JUST Penicillin, Chase found himself feeling better than he had felt for a while. Cuddy had informed him that still wanted him to stay as a patient for one more month getting regular doses of penicillin until she was sure it was safe to bring him back to work. As Cameron and Foreman sat in the room with him, they laughed and joked. House stood outside the door, smiling in at the group of people inside. It wasn't that he was happy Chase was okay or anything. No, it was because earlier that day, he had informed the Aussie that he would be covering all of his clinic hours and that House now owned his ass. Chase didn't seem too bothered by the idea. When House had left to leave, Chase had shouted, "At least I was right."

As House continued to stare in at his ducklings, Cuddy came walking up next to him and said, "Why don't you go in and celebrate with them?"

"Now why would I stoop down to their level?"

"You visited Chase before."

"Yeah, but he was under. Down under…far, far, far down under…"

"I get the picture," groaned Cuddy, turning and looking back in on the room. "Chase told me that you had kindly informed him he was going to cover your clinic hours."

"Well, I saved his life. He kind of owes me."

"I don't think so, House."

House stopped and turned to Cuddy with a quizzical look. "You're covering all of your own clinic hours AND Dr. Chase's until he gets cleared for work. You may own his ass, but I will always own yours!"

When Cuddy began to walk away, House shouted, "SHOULD I GET A TATTOO ON MY ASS THAT SAYS PROPERTY OF LISA CUDDY?!"

Cuddy just waved as she continued into the elevator and rode it down to the clinic. When House turned to look back into the hospital room, he saw Chase smile and wave at him with a devilish look on his face. The corner of House's mouth twitched into a smirk as he muttered, "Oh, you are so lucky you're a patient right now."

And with that, House walked away, another victory under his belt and the anticipation of the next month when Chase would return to work.

**THE END**

**There you have it folks, THE END OF THIS STORY!**

**Now, I want to point out that I AM NOT A DOCTOR, so the mixture of antibiotics and penicillin is just a creative bit on my part. SO PLEASE DON'T YELL AT ME FOR THAT!**

**Glad you all came along for the ride! My first House fanfic and the first House fanfic to actually finish! YAY!**


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